FOLLOWING 
THE  GREAT 
PHYSICIAN 

I 

Hospital  for 
Women  and  Children 

Nellore,  South  India 


Hospital  for 
Women  and  Children 

Nellore,  .South  India 


Physicians 

Dr.  Lena  Benjamin,  pirst  sailing  to  field,  1902.  Birth- 
day, October  17.  Church  membership,  First,  Brad- 
ford, Pa. 

Dr.  Lena  M.  Enclish.  First  sailing  to  field,  1925. 
Birthday,  January  4.  Church  membership,  First, 
Erie,  Pa. 

Indian  Doctors 

Dr.  Nandama  (Part  of  the  year.  Now  Mrs.  Henry 
Moses).  Dr.  Kanthama  continues  her  faithful 
service. 

Nurses 

Miss  Annie  S.  Macilton  (R.N.).  First  sailing  to  field, 
1904.  Birthday,  December  3.  Church  membership, 
Second,  Germantown,  Pa. 

Miss  Gladys  A.  Dorrie  (R.N.).  First  sailing  to  field, 
1920.  Birthday,  November  16.  Church  membership, 
West  Somerville,  Mass. 

Miss  Harriet  Barrington  (R.N.).  First  sailing  to 
field,  1921.  Birthday,  November  23.  Church  mem- 
bership, Granville,  Ohio. 

Miss  Helen  Benjamin  (R.N.).  First  sailing  to  field, 
1926.  Birthday,  September  13.  Church  membership, 
Garfield  Baptist,  Chicago,  111. 

Interne 

Miss  Rachel  Mathews.  Graduate  Vellore  Medical 
School. 


“Through  the  medical  work  in  such  countries  as 
India  we  have  come  to  understand  better  than  ever 
before  something  of  the  depths  of  the  darkness  in 
which  the  people  live,  for  there  is  a battle  field  that  takes 
a heavier  toll  of  life  each  year  than  that  recorded  by 
the  white  crosses  of  Flanders  and  of  France.”  In  the 


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Village  Dispensary  held  in  church  building  at  Edugali.  Some  of  the 
patients.  Dr.  Benjamin  and  Miss  Barrington 


third  decade  of  the  woman’s  work  for  women  and 
children  in  the  Orient  it  became  evident  that  one  of 
the  greatest  needs  of  our  Telugu  Mission  was  a cen- 
trally located  and  well  equipped  hospital.  In  1894 
N'ellore  was  chosen  as  the  most  desirable  station,  and 
the  hospital  building  was  completed  and  formally 
opened  in  1897. 

The  original  buildings  at  Nellore  were  soon  out- 
grown. They  have  been  added  to  and  replaced  until 
now  there  is  a fine  group  of  buildings,  including  the 
hospital,  dispensary,  bungalow  where  missionary  doctors 
and  nurses  live,  and  the  maternity  ward  and  nurses’ 
home.  A picture  just  received  from  the  field  shows 
Mrs.  Goodman  opening  the  door  of  the  beautiful  new 
Paige  Dispensary  for  Dr.  Lena  Benjamin. 

During  the  year  of  1925,  when  Dr.  Benjamin  was 
at  home  on  furlough,  the  New  England  District  voted 
to  make  this  Hospital  for  Women  and  Children  in 
Nellore  their  Jubilee  Hospital. 

The  choice  of  Nellore  has  justified  the  faith  and 
courage  of  our  pioneers  who  followed  the  Great 
Physician  into  Telugu  land.  The  station  is  a strategic 
center  in  an  important  field,  and  the  impact  of  woman’s 
medical  work  upon  the  whole  community  is  immeasur- 
able. The  hospital  with  its  varied  ministry  has  de- 
veloped and  now  commands  the  respect  of  the  govern- 
ment and  the  confidence  of  the  caste  people  who  are 
found  in  ever  increasing  numbers  in  the  work.  God’s 


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providential  leading  in  medical  work  among  women 
has  been  very  manifest  through  the  years  in  Nellore, 
for  to  women  who  are  secluded  as  in  India,  and  pre- 
vented from  receiving  aid  from  men  physicians,  this 
hospital  has  been  the  very  gateway  into  truth,  and 
has  taught  the  sacredness  of  life.  In  India  the  amount 
of  unnecessary  suffering  on  the  part  of  mothers  and 
the  high  death  rate  of  mothers  and  babies  is  terrific. 
In  a land  where  the  most  elementary  rules  of  sanita- 
tion are  disregarded  because  unknown,  the  hospital 
helps  to  fight  the  plague  and  to  teach  the  people  them- 
selves how  to  fight  it.  The  Christian  hospitals  of 
India,  we  are  told,  have  been  so  successful  in  this  that 
an  appreciable  effect  has  been  made  on  the  health  of 
the  Christian  community. 

Since  Dr.  Benjamin  began  her  work  in  1904,  she 
has  ever  maintained  that  medical  work  is  a kingdom 
enterprise.  She  has  based  her  conviction  upon  scriptu- 
ral authority,  for  she  cites  the  example  of  Christ,  who 
called  the  twelve  together  and  sent  them  forth  to 
preach  the  kingdom  of  God  and  to  heal  the  sick.  In 
the  Hospital  for  Women  and  Children  in  Nellore,  the 
twin  ministries  of  preaching  and  healing  have  ever 
gone  hand  in  hand.  The  in-patients  have  been  found 
responsive,  for  so  many  times  the  question,  "Can  I be 
healed?”  has  given  way  to  the  joyous  testimony,  “I 
have  been  healed.”  In  evangelistic  work  with  patients 
in  the  hospital  the  aim  is  to  deal  personally  with  each 
patient  every  day.  The  early  morning  song  and  prayer 
service  begins  the  day  and  is  attended  by  nurses  and 
helpers  in  the  institution  and  all  patients  who  are  able 
to  be  up. 

There  are  three  Bible  women  connected  with  the 
hospital.  They  work  in  the  hospital  and  dispensary. 
One  always  goes  out  with  the  car  to  the  village  dis- 
pensaries and  they  do  much  calling  on  former  patients 
both  in  Nellore  town  and  in  the  villages.  They  are 
trained,  consecrated  Christian  women  and  are  accept- 
able and  popular  with  the  caste  patients.  The  touring 
into  the  interior  offers  unique  evangelistic  opportunity. 
Let  Dr.  Benjamin  herself  tell  of  the  new  dispensary 
connected  with  the  hospital. 

Dispensaries 

“The  village  dispensary  in  Mulamudi,  opened  last 
year,  has  been  kept  open  throughout  the  year  and  has 
been  a blessing  to  the  people  on  that  side  of  the  field. 


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Mrs.  Goodman  opening  the  doors  of  the  new  Paige  Dispensary  in 
Nellore.  February  19,  1927.  Dr.  Lena  Benjamin  at  her  right. 


In  August  this  year  we  started  another  experiment 
along  the  same  line.  Once  a week  we  go  to  Edugali, 
a village  about  twenty  miles  away  in  the  southeast 
corner  of  the  Nellore  field.  There  we  spend  the  morn- 
ing and  then  we  come  back  to  another  village, 
Iskapalem,  about  twelve  miles  from  Nellore  and  one 
and  one-half  miles  from  the  main  road,  and  there  we 
spend  the  afternoon.  We  leave  Nellore  at  about  7 :30 
A.M.  and  get  back  at  about  7:00  P.M.,  after  having 
treated  from  140  to  240  patients  in  the  two  places. 
A doctor,  a nurse,  a dispenser,  a Bible  woman  and  a 
preacher  go  on  each  trip.  In  each  place  the  dispensary 
is  held  in  our  church-schoolhouse  and  in  addition  to 
our  force  from  Nellore  the  pastor  and  his  family  are 
present  and  help.  We  begin  with  a meeting,  and 
afterwards  there  is  a continual  service  going  on  while 
the  medical  members  of  our  party  are  treating  the 
sick,  who  come  to  us  in  crowds.  We  believe  that  it  is 
true  evangelistic  work.  I began  by  calling  it  an  ex- 
periment— the  experimental  part  of  it  consists  in  seeing 
whether  we  can  stretch  our  finances  over  it.  We  are 
using  our  best  endeavors  to  make  the  work  in  Nellore 
self-supporting  as  rapidly  and  as  completely  as  possible. 

“The  new  dispensary,  a part  of  the  New  England 
Jubilee  gift,  is  nearing  completion,  and  materials  are 
being  gathered  together  for  other  buildings.” 

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The  Nurses’  Training  School 

“We  feel,”  writes  Dr.  Benjamin,  “that  the  nurses’ 
training  school  has  made  progress  this  year,  in  that  we 
have  no  undergraduate  who  has  not  read  through  the 
eighth  standard  or  third  form  of  a recognized  school. 
The  last  year’s  results  were  pleasing,  too,  in  that  we 
had  but  one  failure  in  the  entire  school  and  the  junior 
class  stood  high  in  their  examinations,  two  getting  dis- 
tinction. The  nurses  and  compounders  are  as  inter- 
ested as  we  are  in  going  out  to  the  village  dispensaries, 
even  though  it  means  a long,  busy  day,” 

A new  plan  is  being  tried  at  the  hospital  this  year, 
as  Miss  Rachel  Mathews,  a graduate  of  the  Vellore 
Medical  School,  is  an  interne.  It  is  hoped  by  the  staff 
that  this  will  become  a permanent  feature  of  the  work 
for  it  gives  the  graduate  an  opportunity  to  gain  experi- 
ence before  going  into  a regular  position. 

The  hospital  rejoices  in  the  reinforcements  from  the 
homeland.  Dr.  Lena  English  and  Miss  Helen 
Benjamin  are  the  new  recruits.  They  are  busy  with 
their  language  study,  and  spend  many  of  their  leisure 
hours  mingling  with  the  people  and  becoming  familiar 
with  manners  and  customs. 

Dr.  English  writes,  “During  the  short  time  that  I 
have  been  in  India,  I have  been  endeavoring  to  get  a 
reading  and  speaking  knowledge  of  the  Telugu  langu- 
age and  at  the  same  time  become  acquainted  with  a 
number  of  our  patients  and  learn  something  of  Indian 
customs.  To  do  this  I have  been  pursuing  various 
methods. 

“Now  and  then  we  are  invited  by  caste  people  and 
by  Christians  to  take  meals  in  their  homes.  This  is  one 
of  the  treats  which  comes  to  medical  missionaries  and 
affords  an  opportunity  for  greater  friendship  with  the 
people.  It  is  hard  to  convey  the  thrills  of  visits  in 
Indian  caste  homes  and  the  thrills  of  realization  that 
I am  able  to  enter  into  these  dear  people’s  lives  a little 
more  each  month  as  my  knowledge  of  the  language 
increases.” 

No  record  of  the  hospital  in  Nellore  would  be  com- 
plete without  mention  of  the  two  Indian  doctors  who 
have  done  such  faithful,  efficient  work,  Doctors 
Nandama  and  Kanthama.  Nandama  was  the  first 
Telugu  Baptist  woman  to  graduate  from  a medical 
college.  Her  grandparents  were  baptized  by  Dr. 
Clough  on  the  memorable  day  when  2,222  went  down 


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into  the  water.  Her  parents  are  Christians  and  active 
in  Kanigiri.  For  some  months  during  the  furlough  of 
Dr.  Benjamin,  Dr.  Nandama  was  the  only  woman 
physician  in  charge.  She  is  now  married  and,  as  Mrs. 
Henry  Moses,  has  gone  with  her  husband  to  another 
field.  She  will  be  greatly  missed,  but  Dr.  Kanthama 
remains  and  the  staff  depend  very  much  upon  her. 

With  the  present  interest  in  medical  work,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  realize  that  in  the  early  days  of  our  work  for 
women  and  children,  people  repeatedly  asked  the  ques- 
tion, “What  are  medical  missions  and  how  are  they 
justified?”  When  one  of  our  first  doctors  returned 
from  the  field  with  a burning  message  of  the  needs  in 
the  far  off  lands,  it  is  recorded  that  interest  was  so 
feeble  that  when  it  was  announced  that  a medical 
missionary  would  speak,  only  two  were  present  at  the 
meeting  besides  the  speaker.  Gradually  missionary- 
minded  people  have  come  to  realize  that,  as  medical 
evangelism  was  a part  of  early  Christianity,  so  this 
twofold  ministry  challenges  today. 


Statistics  of  Nellore  for  the  Year  1926. 


In-patients  1,636 

Out-patients  (Nellore)  6,446 

Out-patients  (village  dispensaries) 4,101 

Indian  trained  nurses  5 

Nurses  in  training 24 


In  the  leaflet,  Our  Medical  Work  in  the  Orient , will 
be  found  valuable  information  relative  to  medical  work 
in  India.  Epistle  Two  of  The  Baptist  Family  in  For- 
eign Mission  Fields  gives  an  interesting  letter  from 
Nellore  descriptive  of  the  work  and  buildings. 

MARY  LATHROP  BISHOP, 

Editor  of  Hospital  Series. 


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Published  for  the 

Woman's  American  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Society 
by 

The  Board  of  Missionary  Cooperation 
of  the  Northern  Baptist  Convention 
276  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York  City 


3.90fi-I-5M-May,1927-Free 


